Research Journal Assignment #11

RJA #11a: Introduction

This paper will examine the effects of the internet piracy phenomenon on the music industry as well as the music market as a whole and whether or not these effects are largely beneficial or harmful. As members of this market it is important to discover the true effects of this phenomenon so that we may help foster a greater musical experience for ourselves and for future generations. One must consider the artistic, social, and moral implications presented by this topic so that they may decide how to involve themselves in the bettering of our culture and our lives.

Internet piracy is something we are all familiar with. It arose in the 90s not too long after the internet itself began. The issue of intellectual property became a hot button topic as record labels lost sales due to internet theft. Music became very easy to steal, copy, and trade online very quickly. On one hand people were exposed to a much larger database of music than they could possibly have in their own home record collection. On the other hand the temptation to steal from this database proved too tempting and instead of listening to the music and then purchasing hard copies for themselves people settled for the poorer quality, compressed, digital copies. Aside from the moral issues regarding stealing from artists and labels we also have hurt ourselves in that, over time, the experience of discovering new music became less exciting as its intrinsic value was altered. A sort of "homogenization" of music ensued as people were exposed to and influenced by a much larger pool of music.



RJA #11b: Visual Aids

graphs indicating financial gains/losses from the time this behavior started
pie charts indicating which demographics are most responsible
images of sources of downloads to help describe how they function
charts comparing the effects of downloading on both major and independent record labels.
images of court documents from cases surrounding this issue
charts showing the effects on world economies



RJA #11c: Thesis Statement Check
Robin Gardner:

http://rgardn15.blogspot.com/2009/10/9a-writing-thesis-statements.html#comment-form

Sofia:

http://sofiaf1020.blogspot.com/2009/10/eng-1020-research-journal-assignment-10.html#comment-form